Germans Boris Stein and Daniela Sämmler prevailed at the half distance Challenge Heilbronn.

Men

Florian Angert of Germany led the swim in 22:04, which gave him a 1:14 lead on Alex Polizzi of Italy, 1:43 on Horst Reichel of Germany, 1:46 on Timo Bracht of Germany, 2:00 on Trevor Wurtele of Canada, and 2:02 on Stein.

After a race-best 2:18:39 bike split, Stein led Angert by 5:09, Bracht by 5:54, Wurtele by 6:45 and Reichel by 7:03.

Wurtele made the biggest move with a race-best 1:14:27 run which cut Stein’s lead by 2:17. But it was only enough to advance to second place, 4:33 behind the winner. Horst Reichel’s 2nd-best 1:14:32 run brought him to the finish in 3rd place, 29 seconds behind Wurtele.

Women

Sämmler started her day 1:37 behind Heather Wurtele of Canada after a 1.9 km swim in the Neckar, while co-favorite Yvonne Van Vlerken of the Netherlands was 3 seconds further back in 3rd. At the beginning of the cycling leg, Van Vlerken crashed and had to withdraw with multiple bruises and gravel wounds. Sämmler then took a 4:31 lead on Wurtele with a women’s-best 2:36:39 bike split.

Wurtele reduced 3:22 of Sämmler’s lead with a women’s-best 1:24:20 half marathon run. But Sämmler withstood the charge, finishing in 4:34:33 with a 1:08 margin of victory over Wurtele and 16:15 over 3rd-place Svenja Thös of Germany. Elisa Vallera of Italy took 4th in 4:52:47 and six-time Ironman World Champion Natascha Badmann of Switzerland, at the age of 50, took 5th place, 4 seconds behind Vallera,

Sparkassen Challenge Heilbronn Half
Heilbronn, Germany
June 18, 2017
S 1.9k / B 90k / R 21k

Results

Men

1. Boris Stein (GER) 4:02:32
2. Trevor Wurtele (CAN) 4:07:05
3. Horst Reichl (GER) 4:07:34
4. Florian Angert (GER) 4:08:51
5. Timo Bracht (GER) 4:10:56

Women

1. Daniela Sämmler (GER) 4:34:33
2. Heather Wurtele (CAN) 4:35:41
3. Svenja Thös (GER) 4:50:48
4. Elisa Vallera (ITA) 4:52:47
5. Natascha Badmann (SUI) 4:52:51